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Gundam 00S: Crossover Episode Eleven
Chapter 15: The Void *Emptiness, that was the best term for what surrounded him. Slowly that emptiness gave way to darkness, which then sought to engulf him. He gave one push to be free, and succeeded. With a gasp Ransac opened his eyes. He was floating in space somewhere. He looked around and saw nothing surrounding him. *“Did they abandon me? No, True Guardian would still be here. But then…” *“Lonely out here, isn’t it?” Said a voice. Ransac jumped as he recognized that voice. It was impossible, he hadn’t heard that voice in years, and with good reason. *“Dom? How…? What are you doing here?” *“That is a question you should be asking yourself more than to me.” Replied Dom, a familiar smirk growing on his face. His response was a valid one. Ransac had no idea where he was or why he was here. With a start he realized he wasn’t wearing any protective gear. “You don’t need that stuff here. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m wearing my normal clothes.” Knowing he could trust Dom, Ransac relaxed a little. *“Where is here? You seem to know more about this place than I do.” He asked. *“Here is what some call the Void, a plane of existence just a little higher than where GN-Particles gather. Your mind was catapulted here for some reason.” *“But what are you doing here? You’re…” *“Dead? Wait, I’m dead? Ah crap! I forgot to do the laundry, Syrene’s gonna kill me!” Gasp Dom before resuming his smirk. Ransac sighed, a slight grin on his face. He had missed Dom. “You could say this serves as a gateway of sorts.” *“To what?” *“That’s not important right now is it? What’s important that you listen carefully.” *“I’m listening.” Said Ransac. *“Look over there.” Said Dom, pointing to a nebula that was nearby. Without warning the scene shifted, they were now floating inside the nebula. *“I don’t see anything. It’s just a nebula.” *“That’s because your looking with your eyes. Look with your mind.” Ransac did as he was told and shut his eyes. Instead of the familiar darkness, an entirely new scene flooded before him. He was looking at the nebula, but also far more, he could see what felt like the entire universe before him. Looking closer he saw small cracks open and grow slowly. Without knowing how, he knew these should not exist. *“What is it? What is causing those cracks to form?” He asked. *“The world has been changed. Time and Space have become distorted and it’s causing damage to the fabric of reality itself. If the damage is not repaired, it may shatter everything we know, everything will cease to exist.” Explained Dom with an unfamiliar seriousness. *“How do we fix it?” Asked Ransac. *“That I’m not sure of, I was never good at fixing things remember? Blowing them up, yes, putting them back together, well we had Syrene for that.” At the last Dom chuckled. *“How am I supposed to fix the thing if I don’t know where to begin?” Demanded Ransac. *“The pilots are the key. They are tied into this and are part of the answer.” Explained Dom. He was about to continue before a wail echoed around them. It was a wail filled with sorrow and despair, and pain. *“What is that?” Asked Ransac uncertainly. The wail slowly faded away, allowing the silence to resume. *“Something is calling for you. It wants to help but is trapped by something.” Said Dom, his eyebrows knitting together in concentration. *“Do you know what it is?” *“No, but it is also tied to this somehow.” *“So then…” Without warning the area around them flashed. Ransac felt as if something was slowly beginning to stir. It grew in strength with each flash. *“Well that was short lived. I’m afraid we have to part now, Ransac.” Said Dom with a frown which deepened into sadness. *“What’s going on?” Demanded Ransac as another flash appeared. With a start he realized Dom was becoming transparent, more with each flash. *“It’s time for you to go back. Remember what I’ve told you.” *“No, wait! I have something to say!” Shouted Ransac in desperation. *“Better say it quick then.” *“I’m…sorry. This should never have happened to you. I should have done more!” Cried Ransac. Years worth of suppressed grief and self loathing burst forth as he spoke. Dom gave a solemn smile. *“I know. You are not at fault for what happened to me though. Tell the others I say hello.” With that Dom vanished completely. Without warning Ransac began falling. He slammed his eyes shut and waited to hit bottom. After several moments and more flashes, he simply vanished. Chapter 16: Awakening *Ransac rose with a gasp. For a moment the world churned and threatened to sent him back into unconsciousness. With a stubbornness that would’ve made Longshot proud he fought through it. The world began to stabilize around him. He realized he wasn’t alone in what he knew was the medical bay aboard The Traveller. He attempted to speak but what came out was a croak. *“Hold on there, Ransac. You’ve been through a lot. Take it slowly.” Said Ash. *“We were worried you would never wake up.” Said Charlie. Ransac attempted to reply but instead only more croaks came out. After several attempts, he finally succeeded. *“How long have I been out?” *“Two weeks. You’ve missed some stuff.” Answered Ash. *“Like what?” *“We’re heading to Earth. Turns out our machines are in worse condition than we thought. True Guardian and Wing Zero are completely out of commission. Explained Charlie. *“We’re heading back? How long have we been traveling?” *“We turned around shortly after the battle. The ESF has sent a fleet to cover our tracks and to continue the push. They’re unaware of Ceres though. Our promise to Milliardo.” Explained Ash. *“And The Eternal?” *“They remained behind on Ceres.” Answered Charlie. This didn’t entirely surprise Ransac. Now that The Ascent knew of it’s existence they would try to take it for their own in an effort to turn back the tide. *“I guess we’re on our own then. What’s our current fighting strength?” *“Most of the Alteron and Phoenix mobile suits are intact and fully operational. As for the Gundam’s we have just the ASO, Hi-Nu, and the E.O.U.” Explained Ash. Ransac frowned. *“I guess we’ll be relying on you guys for now. Where is Amuro and Heero?” *“Last time I saw Amuro on the observation deck. As for Heero, not a clue.” Said Ash with a shrug. *“I think he blames himself for what happened to the both of you.” Said Charlie. *“That wouldn’t surprise me. He…” Ransac stopped as the door slammed open. Standing in the doorway was Syrene, followed by Longshot, Jim, and Daryl. Her expression was one of intense relief. *“Thank god. We thought we had lost you.” Gasped Syrene as she threw herself into Ransac’s arms. After having the wind knocked out of him. He slowly began to stroke her hair. Ash and Charlie took this as the time to leave and snuck out behind the others. *“You got a lot of nerve you know. Do you know how much work I’ve put into that machine of yours? And in one battle you go and tear it up!” Groaned Jim. He quickly changed his expression from grief to a smirk. “Well at least we have something to be happy about.” *“Indeed. How are you feeling?” Asked Daryl. *“Like a couple of Tierens are pounding on my skull. But I’ll manage.” Replied Ransac. *“Always were a stubborn one weren’t you? Well good to have you back, kid.” Chuckled Longshot. With a wave over his shoulder he left the room. Ransac chuckled. Some things never changed. *“So, I’ve been told we’re on our way back to Earth?” He asked. *“Orders from the ESF.” Replied Daryl. *“Orders? So it’s not just the Gundam’s we’re concerned about, is it?” *“That’s not important for the moment. Right now we need to focus on the current situation. We’re at less than half our fighting strength. Charlie’s machine also suffered damage, for the moment it is operational but we’re not certain how long that will keep up.” Explained Daryl. *“I’ve told him as long as he takes it easy on that machine it shouldn’t have a problem. He shouldn’t have overexerted it like he did during the battle. We’re lucky it wasn’t something even worse.” Said Syrene. *“Anyway. Help me up will you? It’s been two weeks since I’ve had a walk and now feels like a good time.” Said Ransac. Syrene nodded and returned to her feet. He threw an arm around her shoulder and struggled to climb out of the bed he was on. The first two attempts he nearly collapsed onto the floor, his legs feeling like noodles. On the third attempt he finally gained his balance and stood up straight. *“Do you need anything? You’ve been through a lot.” Asked Syrene. *“No,” he replied a little to strongly, “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, I’m heading to the observation deck.” With that said Ransac once again walked The Traveller. As he walked he silently chastised himself for his reaction. She was only acting out of concern, to be honest he was surprised she hadn’t demanded to stay with him, but then again, Syrene seemed to know him better than he knew himself at times. *After a while he lost his balance and tripped, slamming against the wall before landing on the floor. The almost nonexistent gravity softened the landing. Despite that, Ransac still scowled in frustration. He struggled to rise and if not for the gravity, he would have failed. “Calm down, Ransac. This is nobodies fault.” He said to himself. Taking his own advice he took a deep breath and released it as a sigh. A movement caught the corner of his eye. It was Heero. For a moment the two just watched each other. *“I’m sorry.” Said Heero finally. *“About what?” Despite his words, Ransac knew exactly what he was talking about. *“What happened during the battle. I should have known he would redirect it. You were injured because I screwed up.” Heero became visibly uncomfortable the longer he spoke. It was obvious he wasn’t used to this. *“You didn’t make me dive in front of that blast. You weren’t the one who pulled the trigger that ended up torching both of us. In fact, if it wasn’t for you, we would have lost and died for it.” Replied Ransac. Heero seemed to be comforted by that. That comfort faded as his expression became one of searching. *“I saw something when you tried to pull me out. When ZERO overloaded we were briefly connected. I saw your memories, I’m sure you saw mine. We’re more alike than I thought.” He said. Ransac frowned. *“What did you see?” *“I saw a mobile suit fall in battle, a beam saber through the cockpit. The memory was filled with sadness. That memory has been tearing at you for years, hasn’t it?” Ransac paled, he knew precisely what memory he was talking about. For a moment the grief of that time threatened to overwhelm him. *“Yes. And I’d prefer you never speak of it again. That was my worst memory and I’d prefer to never speak of it again.” With unreasonable anger Ransac stormed off, leaving Heero behind. A corner of his mind told him that it was only natural Heero would be curious, Ransac had also shared some of Heero’s memories he would no doubt also like to forget. One such memory was always present on the battlefield, that of a young girl and her dog. Ransac reluctantly let that corner take over. Once again he sighed. Lost in his thoughts, he nearly floated into the door to the observation deck. Upon entering, Ransac saw Amuro staring blankly out into space. “You know, I used to come here a lot to think. Seems I’m not the only one.” Amuro shifted his shoulders in acknowledgement. Something was bothering him. Ransac didn’t need his Quantum Brainwaves to sense that. *“Back during the battle, that pilot, Ribbons, you said he was dead.” Said Amuro. *“He died over 89 years ago, Setsuna defeated him. I believe he had actually died before then at least once.” Explained Ransac. *“How was that possible? People only die once.” *“Ribbons wasn’t exactly human. He was an artificially created being created to help humanity reach evolution and expand into space. They are called Innovades.” *“Sounds a lot like Cyber Newtypes. They are artificially enhanced humans who develop characteristics of Newtypes. You could say Newtypes are the Innovator of my home.” Ransac frowned. *“Sounds more like Super Soldiers to me. But that’s not the point. Ribbons was able to escape death by using the quantum processing computer, Veda, to transfer his consciousness into clone bodies. This served to give the image of immortality or godhood, something Ribbons desperately believed he was capable of. *“So he simply switched bodies whenever his current was killed?” Asked Amuro. *“Yes, Celestial Being eventually severed his connection to Veda, and Setsuna killed him in battle. Why do you ask?” Asked Ransac. Amuro shuffled nervously. They were finally getting to it. *“Because I think, in my timeline, I died. I’m not exactly sure how, but I’m certain I died in battle.” Ransac’s eyes widened. He hadn’t been expecting this. With Ribbons he could explain his resurrection with simple dumb luck or strategic planning. But if what Amuro said was true, it may have been something else entirely. *Milliardo’s words back on Ceres drifted back to him. He had believed someone was deliberately altering time and space to create chaos. If what Amuro said was true, they may not have been just trying to sabotage the ESF, they were trying to harm the very pilots themselves. Whether through battle or mind. *“It doesn’t matter. If you have already died, then for good or worse you’ve been given a second chance. What matters now is what you do with it.” Explained Ransac. Amuro thought the words over and seemed to accept them. With a nod he returned to normal. The Traveller rocked as an explosion ripped through it. Alarms announcing an attack blared loudly, the lighting dimmed to red as a smaller rumble shook it again. *“Attention all hands, take your combat positions immediately! We are under attack by The Ascent! Repeat, all hands to battle stations.” *Ransac swore, The Ascent knew they were weakened by the battle. He should have known they would try to take advantage of that. *“How did they sneak past the ESF fleet?” Demanded Amuro. *“It doesn’t matter. Get to your Gundam.” Ordered Ransac. *“What about you?” *“I have an idea.” Ransac pulled a com device out of his pocket and placed it over his ear. “Tell Heero to meet me in hanger 3.” He said into it. He had a plan that might just work. He nodded to Amuro and the both of them took off down the hall. The battle awaited them.